Is your facility covered by Blue Cross medicare for palliative care

Hi Kathleen, great question. The short answer is yes. The plan requires a referral from the PCP with authorization before we can schedule palliative care.

Palliative Care is a service offered to patients in homes and facilities, when a nurse practitioner goes to the residence and provides: symptom management recommendation, help with advanced care directives and also discusses goals of care (looks at the "big picture" of what is going on by looking at the treatment plans of your PCP and different specialists). If you typically pay a copay for your PCP you might also have one for our palliative care service. But, if you feel that yourself or a loved one is within a year of the end of your life, the hospice care benefit covers a large bundle of care including nurse visits, home health aide visits, social work support, chaplain support a bereavement specialist, durable medical equipment and a 24hr nursing assistance line, which provides support at any time of the day. The goal of palliative and hospice support are for patients to be able to avoid future hospitalizations and to be able to spend as much time as possible at home, enjoying life